Food and Drink

Records of snail eating in Somerset date back more than a hundred years. In fact, there are even stories of the Romans eating them here.

But it was Paul Leyton, a former rocket engineer, who popularised them in the 1960s. His restaurant received widespread coverage from newspaper food writers eager to try the Somerset delicacy, including a young Delia Smith. In fact the Leyton's dish of "Mendip Wallfish" became so popular that they tried freezing them and canning them.    

Former restaurateur Bob Reynolds used to cook about 4,000 snails a year at the Miners' Arms in Priddy. But when the restaurant closed down eight years ago, the dish disappeared from the dinner table with it.

Chef Phil Vickery was on Ready, Steady, Cook

Unlike the French recipe for snails, there is no garlic in the Somerset version. The butter is flavoured only with herbs and seasoning. So do we still have the stomach for snails today?

Inside Out West assembled a tasting panel of experts from local restaurants to find out. All of the panel pride themselves on serving local food in their restaurants. But none of them have ever tried Mendip Wallfish. So what's their verdict?

Elisha Carter from the Charlton House Hotel in Shepton Mallet, Annabel Hackney from the Bank House Café in Axbridge and Ian Bates from The Old Spot in Wells all agree - the recipe is delicious and a big success.

But will they commit to putting them back onto the menu?

Ian Bates says: "Yes I will. I'll put them on like this - the Somerset version of escargots. It'll be good. I think they'll sell very well".

So perhaps there is hope that the tradition for "Mendip Wallfish" could survive into the 21st century.

Mendip Wallfish Recipe

This version of the recipe is by Pat and Bob Reynolds

Collect snails, Helix Aspersa, the common brown garden snail.
Put into a container in which they can be kept moist and can breathe.
Feed them on bran or lettuce or cabbage leaves for 7 to 10 days. This cleanses them.
Put in a sieve and dunk them in boiling water for a few seconds to kill them.
Take the snails from the shells with a small fork, wash them off and then cook.
To cook about a 100 you need a pint of water, ¾ pint of cider, a large carrot and an onion cut into pieces.
Make sure the snails are covered in liquid.
Bring to the boil and simmer until tender for about an hour - it may take a little longer.
Rinse in hot water to clean off the bits of vegetables.

The snails need to be fed lettuce for 7-10 days

Meanwhile put the empty shells in a saucepan with salt and water and bring to the boil.
Boil for a few minutes then rinse in cold water.
Do this 3 times more to make sure the shells are clean.
Dry shells in the oven.

Now to the snails.
You will need a pound of butter for 100 snails.
If the butter is salty you will have no need to add any more salt to the recipe.
½ teaspoon of each of the following,
Chervil, Dill, Fennel Seed, Basil, Sage.
1 teaspoon Chives
3 teaspoons Parsley
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper.
You can use dried or fresh herbs for this.
Grind up all the herbs together and add them to the butter and mix in well.

Take a snail shell, put a little bit of the herb butter into it, then a snail and seal off the shell with more herb butter.
To serve, put the snails on a tray and put into a hot oven.
When the butter bubbles they are ready to eat.
Serve with cubes of bread to mop up the herb butter.

To see more, watch Inside Out West on BBC1, Wednesday 24 October at 19:30.